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Gay mortidan found dead at funeral homeRyan's body discovered locked inside casket at Oak Lawn business;authorities await toxicology tests, say body showed no obvious traumaBy Tammye NashStaff ReporterAuthorities are investigating the death of agay mortician found last Saturday lockedinside a casket at his Oak Lawn funeral home,where the dead man also lived.Investigators said this week that the bodyof Timothy P. Ryan, 29, was badly decomposedbut showed no obvious signs of trauma."We are awaiting the results of toxicologyreports to make a final ruling on cause ofdeath. But all the evidence so far indicates thatthis was not a murder," said homicide Sgt. MiaSullivan.Ryan, 29, was found last Saturday at about11:30 a.m. at Ryan and Rose Memorial Home at3811 Fairmount St. His body was found insidea locked casket in the funeral home's displayroom, according to police.A man later detained by police reportedlyacknowledged that he was with Ryan at thetime of the mortician's death, and said the pairhad been taking drugs.Investigators said Ryan was last seen bywitnesses on Tuesday night as he left a CedarSprings nightclub with another man at about 9p.m.Several items were missing from the house,according to police and friends of the deadman, including Ryan's Chevrolet Suburban.But Sgt. Sullivan said that did not automatical-ly indicate that Ryan had been killed."It's a long way from theft to murder," Sgt.Sullivan said.Worried friends had called police to thefuneral home after being, unable to contactRyan for four days, according to Carter Milam,one of three friends who were with policewhen the body was discovered."I knew something was wrong onWednesday. I had called him several times,and he never called back. Tim always calledme back," Milam said.Milam and two other friends of the deadman entered the funeral home with police onSaturday.Milam said he noticed that a video gamemachine and a VCR was missing and the tele-vision had been moved."I knew immediately that there had been arobbery," Milam said."Then we went into the casket displayroom, and I noticed right away that two of thecaskets were closed. Those caskets were neverclosed, because they were there for display,"Milam added.Ryan's body was found inside a cherry-wood casket which had been locked from theoutside. The body had been wrapped in a com-forter taken from the sofa on which Ryan usu-ally slept, and his legs had been tied togetherwith rope taken from the drapes in the funeralhome's main sitting room, Milam said.Sgt. Sullivan confirmed that Ryan's bodywas found in a casket. But she declined to com-ment on other details supplied by witnesses.Milam said that a watch and ring also weremissing.Milam said this week police told him theyhad questioned a man who had been founddriving Ryan's missing vehicle."They told me he had been arrested on out-of-state warrants," Milam said.The detained man told police he had beenwith Ryan on Tuesday night, and that they hadbeen taking drugs when Ryan collapsed anddied, according to Milam.Sgt. Sullivan would confirm only thatpolice had talked with a man who "apparentlywas with [Ryan] at the time of his death.Everything he told us is consistent with theevidence we have found indicating that [Ryan]was not murdered," she said.Other acquaintances of the dead man saidthat Ryan often used drugs.Friends described Ryan as a sweet and gen-erous person who was working hard to makehis new business successful.Ryan had been "in the funeral businesspractically all his life," Milam said. He hadpreviously operated Allied Mortuary Servicesat the same location, changing the businessinto a full-service funeral home last December."He was one of the sweetest people youwould ever meet," said Milam. "He was afriend to everybody he met. He would giveyou the shirt off his back if you needed it."Milam said Ryan lived at the funeral hometo save money, because the business was strug-Witnesses said Timothy P. Ryan was lastseen leaving a gay nightclub withanother man days before his body wasdiscovered.gling."They had conducted their first funeralservice just a week ago last Saturday. The fam-ily didn't have any money, really, so Tim basi-cally paid for everything. He didn't make anymoney off of it. He just barely covered hiscosts. But that was just the way he was. Hewanted to help people," Milam said."He was just too sweet to have somethinglike this happen to him." TCaven workers praisestock ownership planCEO sees benefits in morale, employee retentionBy Chris LeedsStaff ReporterCaven Enterprises Incorporated, parentcompany of four nightclubs along CedarSprings Road, recently went up for sale — toits employees, that is.Caven Enterprises CEO Jack Polachekannounced late last year that he would sell 35percent of the company to an independenttrust that would in turn offer it to Cavenemployees in the form of stock shares. Themove has been popular with workers, accord-ing to employee spokesman Mark Kirby.In the works for a year, the CavenEnterprises Incorporated Employee StockOwnership Plan was set up as a retirementplan for workers, Polachek said. Kirby, whoserves on the ESOP committee with fellowemployees and representatives from upperand middle management, said the programtruly benefits the employees."This actually encourages employees toCaven EnterprisesCEO Jack Polachek. . says program“encourages em-ployees to take morepride in the compa-ny."stay at the corpora-tion longer and takemore pride in thecompany and theindividual bars,"the 29-year-old bar-tender said. "Thisway they can startplanning for retire-ment. And shouldthey decide to move on and cash out, they cantake that money and invest it in another IRA ormutual fund and keep it rolling."Polachek echoed Kirby, adding thatemployees will soon have a "say-so in policyand procedures."The fact that only employees can accrue thestocks further solidifies their job security,because outside stockholders could be tempt-ed to bring in different workers, Polachek said."It sets a market up for me to sell my stock,rather than try to find a third party outside theSee STOCK PLAN on Page 12Garcia disputes claimshe used anti-gay slursState Representative from Dallas attributes rumors to political opponentsBy Tammye NashStaff ReporterState Rep. Domingo Garcia this weekadamantly denied reports that he has usedanti-gay slurs, saying he was "disappointed"that officials of a local gay political action com-mittee accepted those reports as true withoutdiscussing the matter with him.The Stonewall Lesbian and Gay Democratsin January endorsed Diana Flores for theDistrict 104 state representative seat now heldby Garcia. The incumbent also sought theendorsement of the gay Democratic group.One of the reasons Stonewall gave forendorsing Flores — despite Garcia's admitted-ly spotless voting record on gay issues — wasa contention by some members that Garcia hadon occasion used the term "faggot" in refer-ring to gays.Garcia, who is an attorney, this week calledthe accusation "preposterous" and "absolutelyuntrue. If anyone claims in public that I usedsuch language, I can sue them . . . and I willwin," he said.Bobby Wightman-Cervantes, a gay attor-ney running for U.S. Senate, dismissedGarcia's denials, saying that the state repre-sentative has referred to him as a faggot "onnumerous occasions. He's always calling me'that faggot lawyer who's in my way.'"The two are bitter legal rivals who havefaced off in court more than once, mostnotably in connection with a case in whichWilliam Velasco II filed suit alleging seeking tohave Flores removed from her position on theDallas County Community College Districtboard of trustees. Velasco, represented byGarcia, alleged that Flores, represented byWightman-Cervantes, had engaged in fraud toContinued on Page 86MARCH 3, 2000DALLAS VOICE